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Sweet Surrender
Photo from www.cnyhealingarts.com
What happens when you let go? When you completely let down your guard in practice? Authenticity does. When you invite yourself entirely to your yoga practice, you are able to show up in a way that will serve you and see things you would not generally see on a normal basis. Surrender. Along with strength and flexibility comes surrender. In yoga this is something we often look over however it is just as, if not more important than the other components. If we relinquish control and release expectations, we get exactly what it is that we need. Our body speaks to us clearly but it is up to us to listen. Step into your authenticity and receive your message.
~ Sihnuu Hetep
To learn more about Sihnuu, click here
Breaking Bread: Understanding How Wheat (and Gluten) Hurt Our Bodies, Part I
Photo from jaymuia.files.wordpress.com
I often say, “If I were queen of the world, no one would eat wheat. Ever.” This gluten-free thing that looks like a fad is not a Celiac issue, nor a gluten sensitivity issue only – it is an issue for everybody. Even if you have never had problems with wheat before, you could suddenly develop an autoimmune or neurological disorder from eating the “new wheat,” which are 99% of the wheat on the market today. Eating wheat is like playing Russian roulette with your health.
Not convinced? Let me fill you in. I love this particular food story, because it reads like a soap opera. The story of dairy is interesting (read The Untold Story of Milk), and the story of corn is too (read The Omnivore’s Dilemma) but I have to say that the story of wheat definitely takes the cake (read Wheat Belly by Dr. Davis and Grain Brain by Dr. Perlmutter). These are the best books on these topics. You can also google “gluten summit,” an online event that was just held with many world experts in the field of wheat/gluten and health.
Although many RawGirlToxicWorld readers are already gluten-free, I dare to guess that many of your friends and family are not. You need to let them know this story, so they pay attention. This story needs to be told to avoid unnecessary suffering. Send your peeps one of the books for Christmas to show your love.
The story reads like a soap opera because hybridization of wheat started off very well intentioned with efforts to make Mexico self-sufficient agriculturally and eradicate world hunger. In 1943 Mexico’s International Wheat and Maize Improvement Center partnered with the Rockefeller Foundation and brought in top agricultural geneticists to increase the yield of main crops. In the case of wheat, the tall stalk started buckling when use of nitrogen fertilizers after World War II led to heavier seed heads. The solution, developed primarily by Norman Borlaug, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on wheat in 1970, was to develop a thicker, shorter stalk. This newer, shorter wheat was able to lead to increase wheat yield by eight to tenfold and helped to lessen world hunger dramatically in the 1970s.
The problem? These new dwarf wheats were never tested for safety, even though there had been significant altering of the genetic material. And so today we have a worldwide experiment going on, and we are seeing an unprecedented rise and exacerbation in health issues that seem to be connected to the consumption of the “new” “dwarf wheat” including skin problems; neurological issues; mental health disorders; obesity, diabetes and heart disease; and – of course – digestive problems.
Issue #1 – wheat gluten’s effect on the immune system. The reason consumption of wheat can trigger autoimmune disease out of the blue for anyone is because wheat has been hybridized at an accelerated pace over the last 70 years and this has resulted in freak proteins in the “new wheat”. When one grass is mated with another, 95% of the offspring proteins are the same as from one or the other parent plant – but 5% of the protein is new. So mating grasses over and over again has resulted in completely new proteins that the immune system has never seen. Plus, some very strange techniques have been used to make wheat mutate, such as use of radiation.
When the immune system is exposed to too many “foreign” particles in the bloodstream, it tends to go a little hyper and haywire. It also has a tendency to attack its own body tissue. This is why leaky gut can also lead to autoimmune disease. By the way, it allows incomplete digestion and therefore cause foreign-seeming food particles into the blood stream. This makes the immune system trigger-happy over time, leading to misfirings and autoimmune attack.
But that’s another article! The point here is that we have messed with wheat so much and in so many ways that it is completely different from the wheat that was consumed all through human history until the 1950’s.
If you have lab results definitively showing no wheat intolerance or genertic markers for it, you can theoretically eat heritage wheats like einkorn, emmer, and spelt. However, all wheats whether old or new have three characteristics which are not supportive of health. Stay tuned for Part II of Breaking Bread – Understanding how Wheat (and Gluten) Hurt Our Bodies.
– Babette
To learn more about Babette, click here
5 Foods and Beverages You Should Avoid Like the Plague
Photo from www.memorise.org
Soda: Sodas used to contain 9 teaspoons of sugar, which is an enormous amount to consume, especially on an empty stomach. But sodas today are sweetened with an equivalent amount of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which leads to obesity and fatty liver disease ( aka non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver) because it is not used like sugar by the body, but rather gets stored as fat. On top of the HFCS, sodas contain phosphoric acid, which cause calcium to be leached from your bones, teeth, and soft tissue, setting you up for osteoporosis, cavities, arthritis and other disease states.
What to do? Drink home-made herbal iced tea sweetened with stevia or sparkling mineral water with lemon/lime or plain coconut water, or try kombucha, a delicious, fermented carbonated beverage with liver-detoxifying properties that you can buy or make at home.
Grain-fed beef from CAFOs: What is grain-fed beef from CAFO (concentrated animal food operations)? It is the beef you eat in 99% of all restaurants and at home. It is also the beef from cows that have been fed an unnatural diet of corn and animal by-products in cruel, unsanitary and disease-causing environments. The meat from these cows is void of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a potent protector from cancers. The meat also has the wrong omega 3 to omega 6 ratio, causing inflammation in the body. It is low in riboflavin and other important B vitamins as well as having less Vitamin E, Vitamin K, and trace minerals like magnesium, calcium, and selenium.
What to do? If you want to eat beef, eat 100% grass-fed beef from health food stores, organic butcher shops and from local farm buyers’ clubs – go to www.eatwild.com and check out their directory.
Processed snacks and baked goods: What kind of snacks are we talking about? It’s the candy bars, Oreos, muffins, pastries, Cheez Whiz, and chips. Most processed snacks contain trans fats of some kind. Trans fats get incorporated into your cell structures when you eat them and take two years to cycle out. The incorporation of trans fats into cell walls leaves them incapable of important chemical reactions. As a result, there is chaos and dysfunction on the cellular level. Over a period of time, this leads to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, immune dysfunction, disrupted fetal growth, and obesity.
What to do? Eat whole fruit/veggies and cheese or hummus for snacks, as well as raw and unsalted nuts, plain yogurt (sweetened with stevia if you like), and home baked goods made from almond flour.
Juice: You were always told that fruit was good for you, and what is fruit juice but lots of fruit? So it must be very good for you, right? Wrong! Commercially produced juice has relatively little vitamin and mineral content, and it has had all the fiber taken out, so it sends your blood sugar sky high without giving you much of anything in return. It causes over production of insulin and weight gain, and also causes sugar crashes with accompanying energy lows, inability to think, and mood swings including irritability, anger, anxiety and sadness – yuck! As if impaired mental function weren’t enough, all of these symptoms are just little steps on the road to diabetes – nothing to laugh about.
What to do? Drink herbal iced tea sweetened with stevia or sparkling mineral water with lemon/lime or plain coconut water, or try kombucha, a delicious, carbonated fermented beverage with liver-detoxifying properties. You could also enjoy freshly squeezed vegetable juices with small amounts of fruit added in, and very occasionally treat yourself to fresh-squeezed straight fruit juice if you want, but have it with protein and fat to limit the effects of.
Cereal: All cereals except granola and muesli are extruded at extremely high temperatures (over 500 degrees Fahrenheit), altering the molecular structure of the grains in the slurry and burdening your body, which doesn’t know what to do with this strange food. Add in sugar or aspartame, food dyes, preservatives, and the worst quality commercial vitamins sprayed onto it, and you have an extremely artificial food that gives your body no real nutrients and all the burden of figuring out how to incorporate it. According to Paul Stitt, biochemist and industrial food critic, in an unpublished study conducted by a cereal company, lab rats lived two weeks only when given a diet of extruded cereal, while rats given only water lived significantly longer. In spite of all the marketing around it, as revealed by the autopsy in this study and others, the truth is that extruded cereal is terrible for your body, leading to dysfunction of the pancreas, liver and kidneys and degeneration of the nerves of the spine, all signs of insulin shock.
What to do?If you must have cold cereal, eat granola or muesli in plain yogurt and add raw, unsalted nuts and fresh fruit.
– Babette
To learn more about Babette, click here
Got Parasites? Signs That You May Have Intestinal Worms
Do you know what it feels like to have your life force being sucked out of you daily? Most people do, and they don’t know what the source of their woes are. Parasites! If you have been a long term reader of this blog, you know how much I hate the buggers. Although it seems hard to believe, the parasite or intestinal worm problem is not only real, it is one of the leading causes of health problems. It is estimated that over 80% of Americans and an even higher percentage of people worldwide are infected with parasites. In many developing countries parasites can claim the lives of entire villages. There are thousands of species within the major categories of parasites. Because of the wide range of types and depending on the area and degree of infection in the body the symptoms can be really wide-ranging. In many cases people are treated for other diseases when in fact their problem stems from having a severe parasite infection. Besides leeching nutrients from their hosts, parasites also produce toxic waste that affects the body and compromises the central nervous system.
Some key symptoms of parasitic infection are outlined below. If you believe you have parasites, you need to first confirm that it is the source of your health concerns, and then discern what may be the root cause for your imbalance before you begin cleansing. After slaving tirelessly for the past year, Parasites, Be Gone! my comprehensive guide to cleansing the body of parasites is now available in the Raw Girl Store. The goal of the book which includes a 14 Day Parasite Cleanse was to not only share my journey, but to compile extensive research combined with my personal experience to create a guide that would save want to be parasite-killa’s time and money weeding through the riff-raff. There are so many products, theories, diets, and foods that are aimed at solving the problem, and I wanted to a way to give anyone looking to become parasite-free to have a clear and thorough road map of how to begin. To celebrate the launch below is a tidbit taken from chapter one in the book which describes some of the symptoms you may experience when infected by worms. -XoXo Raw Girl
Stomach & Intestinal Complications like those mentioned below are caused by large amounts of parasites in the lower digestive system and the toxic waste they produce.
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Gas & Bloating
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- Abdominal Pain
- Leaky Gut
- Bloody Stools
- Mucus in the Stools
- Nausea
- Hemorrhoids
Fatigue or lack of energy happens when the toxic waste overloads and overworks the eliminative organs and strains the nervous system and can cause:
- Chronic Fatigue
- Low Energy
- Lethargy
- Excessive Weakness
Skin Disorders or Allergies can be caused by parasites that penetrate the skin and can cause itching. When the bodies’ defense system kicks in and white blood cells increase the reaction can cause rashes or food sensitivities to appear and symptoms may include:
- Acne or skin reactions like Rashes or Hives
- Dry Skin or Dry Hair
- Food Allergies
- Hair Loss
- Itchy Anus
- Itchy Skin
- Crawling Sensations Under the Skin
- Sores
- Swelling
Mood and Anxiety Issues can arise from the negative impact that the toxic metabolic waste from parasite activity has on the nervous system and can cause:
- Mood Swings
- Nervousness
- Depression
- Foggy Thinking
- Slow Reflexes
- Anxiety
- Forgetfulness
Sleep Disturbances can be caused by the mere presence of parasites or the body reacting to them during restful periods. This can cause symptoms such as:
- Teeth Grinding
- Bed Wetting
- Insomnia
- Waking in the middle of the night
- Drooling while asleep
- Itching around the anus (especially at night)
Weight & Appetite Problems are very common among those infected with parasites. Most people may have no idea this is the source of their ravenous appetite or inability to gain weight, and so the problem remains undetected. Some symptoms include:
- Excessive Hunger/Increase in Appetite
- Excessive Weight Loss
- Strong and frequent sugar and carbohydrate cravings
Why Your Body Needs Prebiotics & Probiotics
Photo by www.targetwoman.com
Most often when you hear about maintaining a healthy gut, the conversations are around probiotics and increasing good bacteria in your colon. However our body needs much more than probiotics to create an optimal internal environment, it also needs prebiotics. Prebiotics are a type of fiber or non-digestible carbohydrate found in edible plants that are food for good bacteria in your colon. They help maintain blood sugar levels, aid in maintaining healthy weight, and can prevent constipation. However not all foods high in fiber are prebiotic. Some great prebiotic foods include leeks, dandelion greens, garlic, Jerusalem artichokes, tomatoes, soybeans, oats, asparagus, onions, and unfiltered apple cider vinegar.
How does your body use these prebiotics? Prebiotics are made up of carbohydrates called oligosaccharides, (oligo means few and saccharides means sugars). When you eat these foods the body moves the fiber that was not digested all the way down to the large intestines, where it is fermented. Through the fermentation process your body breaks down these carbs and produces short chain fatty acids, or acids that are made up of 2-6 carbons. These fatty acids then become very important for colon health because they regulate the pH or balance of alkalinity and acidity within the colon and one fatty acid called butyric acid actually serves as an ideal energy source for the cells of the colon.
Having an abundance of these critical short chain fatty acids then in turn can reduce inflammation, support immunity, and maintain a health gut flora environment. So, it’s incredibly important that you maintain a whole foods diet that is comprised of both prebiotic and probiotic foods, because they work together to keep your colon happy. Some simple ways you can incorporate prebiotic foods into your routine include: drinking an apple cider vinegar tonic that consists of a glass of water and diluted ACV, steam sautéing greens with caramelized onions and garlic, having steamed asparagus as a side dish or chopped up in a salad along with tomatoes, adding artichokes to salads, or just adding garlic often to meals. Now the next time sometime goes on a rant about how bad you need your probiotics, you can say “Got Prebiotics?” –XoXo Raw Girl
The Ultimate Prebiotic Salad
1 bunch kale
Arugula
Garlic (2-3 cloves)
Pea Shoots (or any sprouts)
6-7 stalks of asparagus steamed
artichokes
Sun Dried Tomatoes
Dulse
Himalayan Sea Salt
2-3 capfuls of unfiltered organic apple cider vinegar
turmeric ½ teaspoon
Chop kale and wash along with arugula thoroughly. Add finely diced garlic, olive oil, turmeric, apple cider vinegar, and sea salt to taste. With your hands massage the greens thoroughly for a few minutes. Chop steamed asparagus and then add the rest of the ingredients into the salad: tomatoes, artichoke. Top with sprouts and sprinkle dulse. Serve & Enjoy!
How to Make Raw Tacos
If you’ve gone VEG or even if you are 100% raw, sometimes cravings for familiar textures and flavors of S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) or dishes traditionally made with meat may creep up on you. Rather than succumb to your cravings while sacrificing your commitment to health, the great news is that there is always a way to create raw and vegan meals that can satisfy your taste buds. Check out my buddy Aiya of BlackVeganLove.com, on the “Healthy Food, Happy You,” television show demoing how to make delicious raw tacos. -XoXo Raw Girl
DC Raw/Vegan Spot: Elizabeth’s Gone Raw
This past weekend for my birthday extravaganza, I was surprised with a five course decadent meal at Elizabeth’s Gone Raw. If you don’t know, Elizabeth’s is open on Friday’s only, open for reservations from 6pm to 9pm, and is pretty much the only dining experience in the DC area where you can get a gourmet raw meal. The restaurant has been up and running since 2009, and was started by Elizabeth Petty, a breast cancer survivor who parlayed her new lifestyle and love of food into the venture.
Only one word to sum up this experience. INCREDIBLE! If you have the means, I highly recommend you experience this once a week event and be sure to leave sufficient room in your stomach for all the yummy courses. You could even get away with fasting or eating extremely light and then heading over for dinner, because trust, you don’t want to miss eating anything they set in front of you on the table. If you are a foodie, even if you are a meat lover, you’ll feel like you’ve died and gone to tasty eating heaven.
Every single dish had such intricate texture and flavor, and they do an incredible job of pairing wines with the meal if you are a drinker. I don’t drink alcohol, but still had several wonderful virgin drinks including the goji berry tonic, which was wonderful. All of the courses were amazing, but I was borderline obsessed with their kale chips that had just the right amount of spiciness paired with the warm tomato soup, the beet carpaccio, and the decadent maple sassafras cheesecake. The best part about the evening was that we left very full, but not bloated and ready to take a nap in that way you feel after gorging on Standard American Diet foods.
For more info on Elizabeth’s Gone Raw visit their website: http://www.elizabethsonlstreet.com/
-XoXo Raw Girl
The Acne-Free Diet Talk (Excerpt)
Last weekend had a blast speaking at Everlasting Life Cafe in Maryland about my book “The Acne-Free Diet.” For those of you who are not in the DMV and missed this wonderful event, here’s a short excerpt from the talk. Unfortunately you can’t see my slide show with it, but I’m sure you’ll get the gist. Please pass it on especially if you know anyone suffering with skin issues. More people need to get hip to the fact that beating acne is an inside out game. We are what we eat, and one of the beautiful aspects of living is that we have at our fingertips the power to transform our bodies’, our skin, and our health at any moment, just by eating to live. The new version of the book is now available and combines all of the previous information along with a 3 Day Detox, and some extra nuggets of wisdom so that you have simple practical ways to begin your journey. -XoXo Raw Girl
LISTEN TO EXCERPT OF ACNE-FREE DIET TALK HERE
To learn more about the book and purchase the new edition, visit here: http://rawgirltoxicworld.com/the-acne-free-diet/
Raw Spicy Gazpacho & Vegan Eggplant w/ Thyme
This weekend I ate something fried. Don’t judge me! I’ve told you veggie lovers time and time again I am not living la vida raw one hundred percent of the time, and I encourage you to find your bliss and make the healthiest choices for you. That said, after the wonderful food demonstration at VegFest DC I decided to try out Executive Chef Ayinde Howell’s fried eggplant recipe. I did however make some modifications. I’m not a fan of fried food, but I knew my body could handle it without aggravation if I used coconut oil (because the oil is not rancid and has a higher burning/smoke point). There’s no way I could eat it without having a reaction if it was prepared with any other oil but coconut. In the demo Ayinde used earth balance, but I prefer to not add in additional heated oils of any kind that can encourage free radicals in my body. If you are a health enthusiast or concerned about keeping your skin optimal and you ever want to fry anything, I highly recommend you never use “dead” oils and stick to coconut. Anyhow it was delicious, and the eggplant has a natural buttery flavor when cooked this way.
On my first couple of days post-detox I also made a really yummy spicy gazpacho which lasted for a few days. It’s been summer hot in DC the past couple of days so cold soup is where it’s at. If you try the gazpacho know that its much better after sitting in the fridge for a couple of hours because it gets thicker and less runny. By day two, it was a much better consistency and paired well with the eggplant. If you would like to try this entire meal raw, you can marinade your eggplant and dehydrate it. There are some really great recipes out there for eggplant “bacon” which are just dehydrated marinated strips of eggplant. I will plan to revisit this soon and do a raw version of the eggplant. -XoXo Raw Girl
Raw Spicy Gazpacho
Prep time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
1 Cucumber
1 lb cherry tomatoes ( Used two small containers full)
1/2 sweet red pepper
1/2 red onion
small handful cilantro
1/4 cup lime
pinch of cayenne
red pepper flakes to taste
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp sea salt
Put all ingredients in the blender. Blend until smooth. Serve immediately, or for better consistency, let chill in the fridge and then serve. Enjoy!
Vegan Eggplant w/ Thyme
Prep Time: 10 minutes or less
1 eggplant
thyme
sea salt (to taste)
wedge of lime
coconut oil
Slice your eggplant into thin circles, cutting across the width of it. Heat a skillet and add in your coconut oil. As eggplant cooks season with sea salt, and thyme as needed and flip sides. Remove eggplant and away excess oil when slightly brown. garnish with avocado and squeeze a small wedge of lime over the dish. Enjoy!